Georgia is a leader in establishing charter schools. New charter schools are opening from Valdosta to Augusta to Americus. No place has seen a "charter school boom" quite like Macon and Bibb County. They compete with public schools, yet are part of the public system. GPB's Michael Caputo explains how that can make for strange bedfellows.

The results come from a new school-grading system that replaces No Child Left Behind measurements, called the College and Career Ready Performance Index or CCRPI. State Superintendent John Barge says a more-rigorous Algebra test is one reason high school scores dropped 1 point.

Education will continue to be on the front lines this fall in Georgia. And not only because it’s at the center of the gubernatorial race. Georgia will be implementing a new mandatory statewide teacher evaluation system for the first time once the new school year begins. The state has been conducting a pilot program with a fraction of Georgia’s school districts. In the fall, it goes live to all school districts for the first time.

Many students across the state were supposed to be back in the classroom Monday, but instead, they spent their first scheduled school day after winter break at home. Dozens of school systems have canceled classes for Monday and Tuesday because of the frigid temperatures.

The horrors of bullying burst into the news again this week with the report of an 8-year-old Carroll County girl having her hair pulled so hard that her scalp ripped. Bullying has always been a major problem, but its prevalence appears to have increased with the growth of social media sites and the Internet, experts say. And it has not been an easy problem to solve.

State education officials have pulled the plug on a project described as the largest Internet expansion in Georgia school history. The $3.6 million for the Internet upgrade is part of a plan to bring all 180 school districts up to speed in an increasingly digital era. But someone forgot to add $3.6 million to an upcoming bond issue.

The Ritz-Carlton is teaching educators in Georgia how to roll out the red carpet for parents. The Ritz partners with the Georgia Department of Education as part of a broad plan to create more family-friendly schools. Research shows that when parents are involved with school staff, students perform better and have better social skills.

State education officials have announced they've developed courses for a new education model geared toward helping students find potential career paths. Officials from the Georgia Department of Education say the career clusters framework will allow students to choose one of 17 career pathways based on what they'd like to study in college.